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Hello Everyone,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but:

I spent a long weekend in Paris, and after visiting the Eiffel Tower we walked along the river, and when we crossed the bridge there were three or four teams of three card monte hustlers.

It was interesting to watch, it was clear to me, and to my girlfriend that some of the "members of the public" were actually part of the gang, watching them bet and win, then bet on the one which was obviously wrong and lose, making the rest of the "audience" shout at their foolishness, and then of course: bet themselves...

It was fascinating, I managed to resist the temptation.

My question:
They were not using playing cards, instead they were using what looked like leather drink coasters, and one of them had a white sticker on the bottom.
Can anyone tell me anything about this variation?
Or point me in the right direction to find out more about it?




Also as a side note, a lady walking towards us on a bridge stopped to pick up a finger ring, she explained (without speaking French or English) that the ring didn't fit her, so we should take it, my girlfriend and I refused the ring, but eventually she placed it into my hand and walked off.
So my girlfriend and I walked off (with the ring), and we both commented about how we are expecting to be conned...
Sure enough, seconds later the lady is following us and calling after us, she was clearly asking for money for giving us the ring (she kept saying "For Cola")
At this point i tried to give the ring back but she refused, so i placed it in her hand and we walked away.

Does anyone know anything about this con? Is it deeper than it seemed? or was she just trying to get a few Euros for a cheap ring?


Thanks,

Sam

The leather coaster version was shown on the very first episode of The Real Hustle, and you are right, some of the people in the crowd are working on this scam.

The ring scam seems kind of silly. "Here take this ring, I don't need it anymore." *10 seconds later* "You pay now, You pay for ring!"

I've seen things similar to the ring con all the time in North Africa. There's usually a lady who'll prey on unsuspecting tourists, she'll offer them a 'gift' and when they take it, she'll demand money. She also usually has a couple of her rather large brothers lurking in the crowd to help pursuade the poor victim to pay up.

The ring scam is the same as the 'lucky heather' scam that various travelling folk have been performing for certainly decades if not hundreds of years..

I love these scams. Walking through New Orleans there was the 'kid' who would pick somebody out of the crowd and the bet would be that they could figure out where you got your shoes. He would stand about 15 feet back and ask you to take a shoe off your foot and he would tell you where it came from. I followed him around for a bit and in moments he had his target. The gentleman removed his shoe, held it up and the con guy called out "You got that shoe from your foot". The target just laughed thinking it was a game, put his shoe back on and the con said you now owe me 20 bucks. The target just chuckled and turned around to walk away. He stopped chuckling when he saw the size of the guy standing behind him. He paid the 20.

"it's a gift. A gift from the sphynx" the wizened old lady said in Egypt as she thrust some sort of plastic green gemstone into my palm and closed my fingers round it. Despite my protestations she wouldnt take it back and upon trying to walk away insistex that we must pay her for said 'gift'! She became so insistent that I ended up having to drop it in the sand and walk away!

As for the 3 card monte routines I was always under the impression there was a couple of stooges to help with pulling the punters in?

Magus wrote:As for the 3 card monte routines I was always under the impression there was a couple of stooges to help with pulling the punters in?

More than a couple, the 3 Card Monte is a very well polished scam. They have stooges that play and win to prove it's not crooked once the mark is in the crowd, they have stooges that will cajole and encourage the mark to put more money on and of course the stooge that bends the corner of the queen to mark it (and we all know how that turns out ). They even have a stooge called a smoother that calms the mark down after they've been taken and commiserates on their ill luck. In addition it's not unusual to have pick pockets working any large crowd that gathers and this last point is worth bearing in mind if you stop at one of the perfume auctions on Oxford street that open up in otherwise empty shops, apart from the fact the whole thing is a scam is that you will probably find if you don't look like you'll be taken in when you walk away you'll be without your wallet anyway.

Gazzo of Cups and Balls fame (he was on P&T) used to work with Cracker Parker's Monte crew in London in the late 70's and made the mistake of showing his Dad how it worked one quiet Sunday. His Dad infuriated, showed him the Sunday Mirror, the front page story of which was about Cracker Parker's entire operation getting pinched and the evils of the scam and asked him if he knew what trouble he could get into, little realising that was the company he was spending most Saturdays with.

Best book I've read on it by far is Whit Hayden's 'Notes on the Three Card Monte' which was published by School for Scoundrels a while back.

Heckler wrote:Best book I've read on it by far is Whit Hayden's 'Notes on the Three Card Monte' which was published by School for Scoundrels a while back.

I agree, the guys who know me on here know that monte is "my thing" and that is my recommended book.

Sam, the drink coasters you speak of may well have been just that, leather coasters. The game played this way is known as the 3 disc monte but often doesn't use leather as leather is easily scuffed and marked which makes it easy to distinguish which disc is which. You can buy a set of these monte discs made by Nicholas J Johnson

http://www.conman.com.au/disks/

He traveled Europe researching these and included with the discs is a short documentary which is both very interesting but very informative as each piece of footage is annotated and explained, a trailer can be seen here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdGOkYl2t1g

I have the set and can tell you they are very much worth the money, they're a fantastic prop with a great DVD and lovely routine, the guys who've met me at the TM meetups will have seen the routine and can perhaps offer some opinions. My discs are a year or so old now and other than the sticker looking a bit mucky from the newspaper ink they look exactly the same as they day I got them, and have taken some heavy use.

I know my interest is a little over the top in this thing but if anybody else is interested I can try and take some pictures of the monte discs or answer any questions.

A word of parting advise that has already been said, even if you don't plan on betting, don't go near the game being played on the street

In my younger days I used to know some of these chaps personally. So you can imagine my astonishment when I visited London about 10 to 15 years ago and went to the Magic Circle where Randy Wakeman was lecturing. To my utter amazement among the suited bankers, lawyers and assorted toffs and geriatric magicians that make up the club were two of the biggest villians and 3 card monte operators in London. I had no idea what they were doing there. I just hope the Circle cloakroom was well guarded so they didn't go in their and rifle through the pockets of people's overcoats.

We recognised each other and had a chat. They said they would visit me in Canada. Thank goodness they didn't. I am a respectable citizen after all.

Incidentally they WANT people to know the game is a fraud. The bad reputation of the game is what they thrive on. If the punters thought it was an honest game it would be difficult to con them. They are after the type of people that heckle you when you do a card trick. The loud mouth who knows it all. There. That should cheer you all up.

Looking for some information on the Nicholas J johnson 3 disc monte dvd. Mr Z0mbie could you contact me please .Pm me please, thank you

Hey Hustler,

Unfortunately, the PM system doesn't kick in for new members, until they've made five relevant posts.

Possibly ask your question on the forum, for now?

HUSTLER wrote:Looking for some information on the Nicholas J johnson 3 disc monte dvd. Mr Z0mbie could you contact me please .Pm me please, thank you

What do you need to know mate?

Many thanks for your reply. Don't know if you know about this site yet http://www.magicswindles.com" target="_blank they do the ulitmate in 3 disc monte sets and throw mats. What is great is the centre dot is made of plastic and is inlaid into the disc so it will never peel off. Also both sides of the disc have the cratch resistant finsish. Different size ses are available, along with different inserts. You don't just have to have a white spot.

The throw mats open up so that you can insert newspaper to give a non slip working surface when the disc's are thrown. Also with the newspaper being inside the mat the dis'cs don't get dirty.Customer service is great from Al and you will not be disappointed with the disc's I have been using them in my Bunco booth and getting some great reactions.

Could you also contact me via my website please.